Concrete loading, mixing, and distributing machine



Dec; 30. 1924'.

E. H. LICHTENBERG CONCRETE LOADING, MIXING, AND DISTRIBUTING MACHINE Filed Jan. 31, 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet l (lbtozmmf Dec. 30, '1924. 1,521,246

r E. H. LICHTENBERG CONCRETE LOADING, MIXING AND DISTRIBUTING MACHINE Filed Jan. 31, 1921 -5 Sheets-Sheet 2 E. H. LICHTENBERG 4 CONCRETE LOADING, MIXING, AND DISTRIBUTING MACHINE 1921 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 M I W: I

Patented Dec. 30, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ERIGI-I H. LICHTENBERG, or MILWAUKEE; Wisconsin, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TOKOEHRING" COMPANY, OFMILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, A COR-PORATlON or WISCONSIN.

CONCRETE LOADING,-IVITXI1\TG, AND DISTRIBUTING MACHINE.

Application filed'jJanuary 31, 192-1.

To all whomit may, concern:

'Be it known that I, Enron H. LIGHTEN- nnncnua citizen of the United States, residing at li lilwaukee, in the county of Mil waukee and State of lVisconsi-n, have invented certain new and useful improvements' in Concrete Loading, Mixing, and Distributing Machines, of which-the tollow ing is a specification; v

The object of my present invention has been to produce aiinachine capable of han dling concrete aggregates in enormous quantities, a: machine which isportable so that it may be advanced under its own power as workupon a continuous surface pro- 7 grosses, and combining instrumentalities for performing the functions of unloading the.

aggregates from a source of supply, conveying the said aggregates to a hopper or receiver upon the machine,- mining the aggregates as they are suppliedto a suitable mixing unit from said receiver, anddistributing said aggregates by properly depositing the'same upon the subgrade which is beingconcreted V The power plant for the machine is operatirvely connected with the derrick loading and :unloading means, the mixing unit and the distributing unit, as well as adapted toadvance the machine asthe work proceeds. The machine as hereinafter Set forth is designed especially for use in connection with industrial railways such as now commonly employed to convey concrete aggregates tothe site, usually a subgrade, at which they are to be mixed and distributed. Such industrial railways are now comprised largely of tr-ackage, trucks ton-operate thereover, and batch receptacles or boxes removably mounted on the tnu'cks so that they may be bodily detached, lifted olf the'track, and their contentsdischarged where necessary. My machine is designed to handle at one time a batch receptacle or car body having a capacity of'approximately sixty-fivev cubic feet of aggregates, having. the approximate weight of seven thousand (7000) pounds, the same being bodily transferred to the mixing unit of Serial No. 441,358.

Owing to the tremendous quantity of materials which must be transferred to the receiver on the machine which supplies the mixing plant, it has been necessary for .me to design special contrivances which will discharge the materials to the receiver (which latter directly supplies the mixing drum of ,said'mi-Xing' plant or unit), in a slow even feed; otherwise clogging of the receiver and improper operation of the ingi unit would result and efiicient opention of the machine be prevented.

A further and important phase of the invention has been to so design the machine that its several main units may not only avork conjointly, but are'arranged so an arc-ofapproximately 180 degrees, and equipped w th batch box grappling and dumping; means of a special type. In the use of my machine, the derrick admits of picking up of batch boxes at one side of the machine, carrying them to the receiver, discharging them, and'returning them to the point from which they are taken, or transferring them to the opposite side of the machine vas empties, according to the requirements of the particular site of operation, and other factors controlling the eliicient utilization of the machine in practice; 0 v

Additionallythe design of my machine is intended to afford a fully balanced struc ture having a high degree of stability in operation and embodying specific features of frame construction, and controls, all of aspecial advantage as will become evident pon reference to the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine embodying the general construction emploved for the purpose of the invention;

Figure 2 is a rear end View of said machine, certain features suchas the power and mixin 'runits bein omitted for urnoses of clearness, and an industrial railway of the batch box or receptacle car type being shown.

Figure 3 is an enlarged view showing more clearly the crosshead and special detachable connections used between the hoisting cable means and the batch box.

Figure etis a side elevation of the batch box showing somewhat more clearly the arrangement of the operating members connecting the hoisting means with the bottom dumping doors of the box, portions of the box brokenaway and in section.

Referring to the drawings, A denotes the body or support frame of the machine, B

themain framework, and O a superstructure consisting of a suitable braced towerlike frame 1 at the left, converging uprights 2 at the right, and a horizontal connecting bar 3 at the top. The body A comprises endless tracks or caterpillars arranged at one end thereof, and the steering wheels 5 located 7 at the other end. 7

About midway upon the body A is carried a power plant 6, and suitable driving con 11601310118 are provided between said powerplantand the tracks 4:, and other special units of which the machine is composed. At a point substantially above; the tracks 4 is located the mixing unit D, and this embodies primarily a rotating drum of a well known type in which the aggregates are adapted to be mixed after a known man-- ner, from which they are adapted to be discharged through a chute 7. .A hopper or receiver 8 is mounted at one side of the mixing unit D, near the base of the towerlike portion 1 of the superstructure C, and this receiver 8 is adapted to feed the aggregates into the mixing drum by a chute I p 8 at the lower end of said receiver.

said mast may turn freely in an arc of At the rear end of the machine and approximately above the wheels 5 is located the loading and unloading unit E which embodies a derrick including the mast 9, the boom'lO, a brace rod 11, and certain controls by which the whole unit is operated.

The mast 9 of the derrick E is stepped in any substantial manner on the upper part of the main framework B so that the not less than, but preferably somewhat greater than, 180 degrees. A suitable line or 'cable 12 operating on the cable ring '11 at the base of the mast 9 and connected with suitable operating drums 12 will preferably be used for controlling the turning of the mast and swinging of the boom 10 therewith,

' such movement being reversed as required.

A hoisting cable 13 connected with the drum 14 leads over a grooved roller 15 on themast 9 and a similar roller 16 at the upper end of the boom 10 around a sheave mounted in a suitable block 17 on a cross bar 18, and thence is secured in any substa-ntial way to the top of the boom 10. The crosshead 18 is equipped with suitable clevices 19 comprising pins 19 to engage corchains. 20 are connected with a pulley block 24 aboutthe pulley of which a dumping or controlling cable 25 passes, the same being susceptible of i suitable operation at the proper time to effect dumping ofthe batch receptacle 23. a In other words, relative movement of the parts 24 and 18 is designed to cause the dumping of the receptacle 23' when the latter has beenelevated and moved to a position above the receiver or hopper '8. Any suitable driving connections may be employed between the motor '6 and the several drums bywhichthe lines or cables of the derrick are operated.

r The distributing unit by which the mixed concrete is delivered to the place of deposit is designated F and embodies a boom 26 and bucket 27. This unit may comprise operating instrumentalities of a type at present 7 in use, known as the Koehring boom and bucket paving unit, and generally shown in Reissue Patent No. 13,617, granted Septem ber 16, 1913, my Letters Patent No. 1,141, 470, granted June 1, 1915, or as set forth in my copending application, Serial No. 397,-

131, filed July '19, 1920. The mixing drum of the mixing unit D'is operated by the motor 6, 'aiid'motion may be transmitted from said drum to the distributing bucket 27, or otherwise effected within the purview of the invention. I do not attempt to illustrate certain of these details because the.

more mechanical connections are not essential to my invention. V

1th the foregoing general description less of the various mechanisms of my machine in View, it will be noted that'by adjusting the derrick substantially as shown in Figure 2, and operating the control lines or cables 1 properly after the grappling means has been engaged with thebatch receptacle 23, the said receptacle may be raised and swung into a position over the receiver or hopper 8, thereafter slowly. dumped ordischarged of the large quantity of aggregates there- V in so that the latter areslowly fed to the receiver 8, by'controlling the operation of the cable 25, and then the emptied receptacle may be returnedtothe frame of the car which supports the same. If desired, the empty receptacle may be swung to the opposite side of the machine from that on which it was first hoisted, and delivered to a point of deposit, or transferred to a separate industrial railway equipment. The materials supplied to the receiver 8 are properly fed into the mixing drum of the mixing lllllb D, are mixed by said unit, and thereafter discharged from the mixer into the bucket 27 of the distributor F. The bucket 27 is adapted to be caused to trav erse the boom 26 and to automatically discharge its contents on the site where the concrete is to be laid.

The power plant or motor 6 is designed to be suitably geared to drive the caterpillars or. endless tracks a, by means of variable speed transmission, and in this way the whole machine will be caused to advance as the work of paving progresses.

block 24 is adapted for relative movement respecting said cross-head whereby to draw the chains upward or permit them to slack with movement downward, the range of relative movement of the parts 20 and 18 being shown in Figures 1 and 2 by comparison of said figures. It is to be noted that the members or bars 22 are connected to any suitable doors 23 enabling the receptacle 23 to be opened and closed, which doors are susceptible of movement into the dotted line positions illustrated in Fig. 1, in the dumping action of the machine. The batch receptacle 23 is of course elevated by operation of the cable 13 which is connected to the .cross-head'18 and with the upper end of the boom 10, and the cable 25 is wound in at the same time and may assist in the hoisting operation. For this purpose the cross-head 18 has the members 19 and 19 for detachable engagement with co-acting parts 19 on the batch receptacle 23. When the batch receptacle has been hoisted to the position of Fig. 1, and the cable 25 is slacked, the block 24 will lower, permitting the door connections or bars 22 to move downwards and opening the doors 23 whilst the hoisting cable 13 remains stationary, holding the body of the box 23 stationary as well. After the dumping is performed by the slacking of the chains 20 on paying out the cable 25, the cable 25 is wound in to close dumping doors 23 on the receptacle 23, and the batch box may then be swung over the car truck on which it is mounted for transportation purposes,

and deposited on said truck. Or the doors 23 may be closed later on in the swinging of the batch box to its seat on the truck of the industrial car, as for instance just previous to depositing the batch box on the car, this being immaterial to the invention. Having thus described by invention, what T Letters Patent is 1. In a machine of the class described, in combination, a batch receptacle adapted to p be removably carried by a car and comprising dumping doors, and a cable control for hoisting detachable connection with the batch receptacle body and its doors, the hoisting cable control embodying relatively movable devices engageable with the batch receptacle and said doors and operable to cause relative movement of such parts for discharging the receptacle into a hopper, the parts of one of the said movable devices having relative. sliding movement over parts of the other devices when the movable devices areassembled in operative relation.

2. In combination, a cable hoisting means including cable parts, a batch box separate from the loading unit but designed to be handled thereby for hoisting and discharging purposes, said box comprising a body and dumping doors, cable connecting members attached to the box, a cross-head having detachable connections adapted to be engaged with said connecting members of the body of the box, a sheave on said cross-head upon which one of the said cable parts operates to hoist the cross-head and box when connected therewith, operating members on the box attached to the dumping doors thereof, connections leading from the other cable part to said operating members, guide means on the cross head for said last named connections, and means to impart simultaneous movement to the cable parts so that the box with its doors may be simultaneously hoisted, said means adapted to move the cable parts relatively to one another whereby the box body and its doors may move relatively so that the doors may open during such movement and discharge the contents of the box.

3. In combination, cable hoisting means, a batch box adapted to form the body of an industrial car comprising a body and dumping doors movably connected thereto, connecting members attached to the body of the box, operating members attached to the doors, a cross bar equipped with connecting parts for detachable connection with the connecting members on said batch box body, the cable means aforesaid including a cable movably connected with said cross: bar to hoist the same and to hoist the box when connected therewith, chain elements having detachable connecting members to connect them with the operating members attached 1 claim as new and desire to secure by 'relative movement of said cross bar and said chain elements, and thereby relative. movement of the box body and its dumping doors for causing a discharge of the batch box under the control of the cable hoisting means.

4. In a machine as described, the combination of a body, moving supporting means for said body rendering it portable, a main frame on the body, a towerlike superstructure at one end of the main frame, a superstructure comprising upwardly converging members at the other end of said frame, a horizontal bar connecting said superstructures, a derrick mast stepped ,in said bar and upon the main frame, a boom on said mast, batch-'recep tacle engaging means connected with the derrick devices aforesaid and means to 013-.

the converging members of the superstructure aforesaid, and the boom being adapted operated means for the derrick and mixing units all'substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

ERICH H. LIGI-ITENBERG. 7 

